


got bridges to burn and places to run, yeah this smile is a loaded gun

by endofdaysforme



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, I do not care and I will not be changing it thank you for coming to my ted talk, I don't know what this is but hi hello hope you like it, yes I just realized as I was tagging his character that Malachi's name is misspelled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:49:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22809667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endofdaysforme/pseuds/endofdaysforme
Summary: here’s the thing.if you had told toni topaz about a year ago that she’d currently be in some restaurant in riverdale sipping mimosas with the craziest girl in town, the cop who was way too good at her job and suffered the price for it, a girl who disappeared years ago only to come back as a goddamn assassin and some kid she’d never met before with a habit for pick pocketing, she would’ve told you to go back to snorting coke off a stripper’s back and leave her the hell alone.but, again…here’s the thing.that’s exactly what she’s doing. with three crazy broads, all who she’d never met before a couple weeks ago who now seem to be something akin to sisters to her.after what they’ve been through, seems strange not to have that kind of sisterhood with them.--toni topaz doesn't consider herself a 'good guy'. neither does cheryl blossom, veronica lodge or betty cooper for that matter. but when riverdale's resident 'bad guy' is close to getting his hands on unlimited funds to source his evil plan, they find themselves banding together to put an end to his madness.hell, crazy can't be defeated without a little crazy itself.--aka, a birds of prey au.
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 22
Kudos: 110





	got bridges to burn and places to run, yeah this smile is a loaded gun

**Author's Note:**

> HIIII DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS BUT I WATCHED BIRDS OF PREY AND SUDDENLY I WAS WRITING A 20K AU OF IT FOR RIVERDALE, AM I CRAZY?
> 
> PROBABLY.
> 
> HOPE YOU LIKE IT. LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.
> 
> ALSO GO WATCH BIRDS OF PREY, IT'S FUCKING AMAZING. AND IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET, MAYBE DON'T READ THIS, CAUSE...SPOILERS, DUH.
> 
> TW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE/SEXUAL ASSAULT.

here’s the thing.

if you had told toni topaz about a year ago that she’d currently be in some restaurant in riverdale sipping mimosas with the craziest girl in town, the cop who was way too good at her job and suffered the price for it, a girl who disappeared years ago only to come back as a goddamn assassin and some kid she’d never met before with a habit for pick pocketing, she would’ve told you to go back to snorting coke off a stripper’s back and leave her the hell alone.

but, again…here’s the thing.

that’s exactly what she’s doing. with three crazy broads, all who she’d never met before a couple weeks ago who now seem to be something akin to sisters to her.

after what they’ve been through, seems strange not to have that kind of sisterhood with them.

this doesn’t sound right, does it? not making any sense?

well, let’s take it back a few weeks then.

let’s take it back to the last week of summer in the beautiful town of riverdale…or, well…the _once_ beautiful town of riverdale.

crazy, how corruption and greed can turn an entire population of people, can destroy something that was once so amazing and peaceful…

but yes, onto the last week of summer in the town of riverdale a few weeks ago, when…out of nowhere…the man in control of the whole damn city suddenly croaked. 

you see, it’s not exactly a hidden fact that the blossoms ran this town, turned it into what it is now: a wasteland of something that was once so beautiful and rich in nature and town history. but the blossom family, well…their little drug operation destroyed this town and burned it to the ground. they brought in drug dealers and gun slingers from nearby cities like new york, all looking to get a cut of the money the blossoms were bringing in, and after that: it was over.

riverdale was a war zone. and leading the charge was the blossom family: once fronted by clifford and penelope blossom, until their tragic demise in a shootout with the police that lead to their two children, jason and cheryl taking over the family business.

well…more jason than anything. 

because if there’s one thing this whole town is very much aware of, it’s this: that cheryl blossom is fucking nuts. 

nuts enough, it would seem, for her parents to ensure she had nothing to do with the family business, leaving everything to jason and nothing to her. 

oh, but toni’s heard the stories…she’s heard the stories about the blossom girl going out every night, getting wasted to oblivion and breaking people’s faces or legs if they so much as looked at her wrong, and the thing is: no one could do a thing. because the blossoms were powerful… _jason_ was powerful, and if anyone dared mess with cheryl, well…you’d be lucky to sleep with the fishes, frankly. you’d more than likely end up looking like a fish than sleeping with them if you lay a finger on his sister’s bright red hair.

so, with cheryl wreaking havoc on anyone who sneezed wrong and jason in control of practically every source of money in this town, the blossoms truly were in control.

key word being _were._

until the last week of summer: when jason blossom was killed and gunned down by some unknown assailant, and cheryl, with no official control over anything, was left all alone.

the last blossom standing.

yeah…safe to say once word got out of jason’s demise, cheryl blossom was officially on the top of _everyone’s_ hit list. 

figures she’d somehow find her way to toni.

which is actually how this story begins.

not with a whisper. but at four on a friday morning with a-

BANG.

“hey! hey, open up! open up, come on, please, please, please, please-.” 

“jesus christ…”

toni topaz groans, unceremoniously pulled out of her slumber and wincing at the continuous banging on her front door before she’s jumping off her bed and making her way out of her bedroom to the living room and then the front door of her apartment, which she opens-

“oh thank god!”

a flash of red dances past her before the door is being slammed shut, there’s a loud crunching sound followed by a man screaming in agony and the door is shutting properly with the chain being locked into place by a pale hand to keep it shut.

toni steps back, blinks away the shock and the sleep from her eyes-

and finds none other than cheryl blossom in front of her, red lipstick smudged, hair haphazard, mascara staining her cheeks, dress torn in some spots and hiccuping like she’s-

“are you drunk?” toni exclaims, watching as the blossom heir staggers slightly when she pushes herself off the wall with a giggle.

“as a skunk! and also-running! big m-men after me!” she manages to slur out, pointing at the door as it rattles from the force of someone barging into it, causing cheryl to pout while toni slowly puts two and two together.

jason blossom died three nights ago. 

jason blossom died three nights ago and cheryl blossom is the only blossom standing, and if she dies, the whole blossom empire crumbles and the whole city will be fighting each other for control and no doubt the person who kills the last blossom will get that control and that last blossom-

is currently standing in her living room.

“what the _fuck_ are you doing leading them here then?!” toni hisses, reaching out and gripping cheryl’s bicep in anger as the girl hiccups and looks at her with her bright brown eyes crossed and another pretentious giggle.

“hey, you opened the door, not-me! th-think you can help a damsel in-distress?” she whines through her hiccups as the door rattles once more and toni comes to a quick, and very, very stupid decision.

that no matter how much she hates the blossoms, she won’t leave a five foot four girl, no matter how crazy she is, alone to deal with a group of power hungry men hunting her down for sport.

she’s a feminist, sue her.

“come on, through the window!” toni growls, leading her to the fire escape and quickly rushing into her bedroom to pull on jeans and a jacket at least before she’s grabbing her keys, phone and wallet and following after her.

of course, cheryl is gripping the railing for dear life as toni grabs her hand and leads her down the stairs before they reach the last flight and come to a stop at the ladder. toni grabs it gently lowers it, wincing when it squeaks and whines as she looks around the alleyway below her quickly to make sure no one is nearby. once she determines there’s not, she looks behind her at cheryl, who swallows thickly and looks up at her with a lazy smile.

“think you can make it down this ladder in one piece?” toni asks, and cheryl simply salutes her, causing toni to roll her eyes before she’s taking the lead down the ladder with a racing heart and no idea of what to do next. 

it’s not like she can take cheryl to the police station, they’re all corrupt as hell and won’t do shit to protect her…she could take her to the hospital, but she’s not injured…

this girl is not her responsibility, she should just fucking leave her in this alleyway to rot-

“oops!”

she barely looks up in time before something’s crashing into her and causing her to stumble and fall flat on her ass with said something planted firmly in her lap, and toni groans at the pain that explodes up her backside while cheryl loops her arms around toni’s neck with an excited squeal.

“my knight in shining armor! love the hair by the way, pinky!” she exclaims, pressing a red stained kiss to toni’s cheek and prompting the pink haired girl to groan and shove her off her lap quickly. 

“shut up and get up before someone comes looking-.”

“oh cheeeeeeryl!” 

toni’s heart drops.

four of them round the corner, one of them carrying a crowbar, and toni can practically hear her body screaming at the pain it’s about to be in in the next five minutes as she squares her shoulders and lets out an exasperated sigh.

she hasn’t had to kick anyone’s ass in awhile…she hopes her legs are still flexible. 

“stay back, don’t get in the way.” toni murmurs, looking back at cheryl, who looks at the four men with a huff and a roll of her eyes.

“don’t you guys have something better to do?!” she demands, causing toni to look back at her in disbelief for the briefest moment before all four of them rush forward, and she’s forced to raise her hands and step forward to meet them halfway.

the first guy swings predictably for her head with a right hook that she easily ducks, swinging her leg around and catching him in the gut with the heel of her boot before she’s gripping the crowbar in the hands of the guy beside him and using that as leverage to pull him in as she sidesteps and allows crowbar guy to crash into right hook guy. they both stumble, giving toni enough time to block a punch to the throat and stick a thumb straight into the eye of the third guy before she’s kneeing him in the balls, and the fourth guy-

he swings, and connects.

toni feels the impact across her cheek, which burns like goddamn fire, and for a second, she’s seeing stars and thick fingers grip the back of her neck and lift her-

before she has a chance to think of a way out of this one, she’s let go, her feet touching the floor and causing her to stagger forward as the fourth guy falls to his knees, clutching his groin and moaning in pain, and right behind him-

cheryl blossom smiles widely before she’s swinging a foot around and connecting with the side of the man’s head, forcing him to the floor and causing her to stumble drunkenly as toni watches on in surprise until a yell from behind her as her instinctively ducking before she’s grabbing the back of crowbar guy’s shirt and swinging him down onto her bent knee spine first. he collapses, and the first guy is just getting up when toni sees cheryl grab the crowbar from the ground, and the guy barely has time to get to his feet before she’s swinging and it’s connecting with his head with a sickening thud.

he collapses, all four men out for the count as toni pants for air and clutches her aching cheek before she looks up at cheryl in surprise. 

“now where the _fuck_ did you learn how to do that?” she exclaims. cheryl drops the crowbar with a shrug and another drunken hiccup.

“you do know-who i am-right? you th-think my parents didn’t make sure i kn-knew how to defend myself with a lot of martial arts training?” she mumbles, ruffling her already haphazard hair as toni nods, clearly impressed.

“huh…no shit.”

“how do _you_ know how to…” cheryl asks, and toni rolls her eyes and reaches out to grab her bicep once more, leading her out of the alleyway towards the front road slowly to make sure no one else gets the jump on them.

“you didn’t exactly make it easy growing up in this town. i had to learn how to defend myself on my own, no special lessons from some fancy kicking ass school. just people kicking _my_ ass, and me getting back up with a lesson learned.” toni says sourly, scoffing as she quickly ducks her head out to check that no one else is looking for them before she’s dragging cheryl towards her car parked out front.

“my parents…not me.” cheryl grumbles, causing toni to roll her eyes and practically shove her towards the passenger seat.

“same shit. now get in the car, you look like you’re five seconds from passing out.” toni sighs, wincing as the movement causes her cheek to flare with pain before she’s jumping into the driver’s seat and starting the car. as soon as it’s brought to life, she takes off, ignoring the toot of the horn of the car she’s just cut off and making her way as far away from here as possible.

it’s only two minutes into the ride, with nothing but quiet between them, when cheryl suddenly says something that knocks the wind right out of toni topaz.

“…my twin brother was killed.” cheryl whispers suddenly and so, so hauntingly, toni finds a shiver running up her spine at her words, a shudder causing her body to move on its own accord before she’s turning to look at cheryl sympathetically.

“i know. i’m sorry.” she croaks out. 

and once again, cheryl surprises her by scoffing in disbelief and waving her hand nonchalantly.

“don’t be. he was an ass…they all were.” she deadpans, eyes almost cold and dead inside as toni blinks once in shock.

“i-.”

“people aren’t born nuts, pinky. they’re driven to it. just like i was.” cheryl says monotonously, her gaze dropping down to her fingers as toni chews on her bottom lip and tries not to fall under the mesmerizing spell that cheryl blossom’s side profile is pulling her into right now. 

“toni. call me toni.”

_dammit._

cheryl smiles, tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and suddenly reaches for the handle of the door as toni slows down to a stop.

“well, toni…thanks for saving me. now, i hope you don’t mind, i think it’s time i take off.” she says hoarsely, opening the door slowly and surprising toni into a state of verbal dissonance before-

“what? why? i can get you somewhere safe-.” she starts, but cheryl’s abrupt laugh cuts her off.

“no where is safe for me in this town, toni. it’s been that way from day one…nothing’s changed except now, it’s ten times worse.” cheryl says in defeat, once again moving to leave as toni stares at her in confusion.

because if there was one person that was safe in this town, it was cheryl fucking blossom…

“but…your brother-.”

“the blossom name protected me, not my brother, or my parents…trust me on that one.” cheryl says with a scoff, shaking her head and hiccuping once more, and at the sound of it, toni’s hand is flinging out to grip her wrist and stop her, pulling her back and preventing her from getting out as she collapses back into the passenger seat with a huff.

“i…you’re drunk, okay? at least sober up before you go running off!” toni says urgently, because she’s not about to let cheryl blossom off on her own when the entire goddamn town is hunting her, it’s…well, it’s barbaric.

toni topaz is not barbaric.

“you really wanna be associated with me?” cheryl asks, narrowing her eyes suspiciously as toni grins and simply shrugs.

“i like damsels in distress.” she teases. cheryl rolls her eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile on her smudged lipstick as she chews on the inside of her cheek before she finally nods.

“fine. i’ll sleep off my drunken state, but when i wake up…i’m gone.” she says stiffly, and toni smiles as cheryl settles into her seat by reclining it before she’s curling up and closing her eyes, and she’s out like a light within moments as toni looks out onto the road and thinks of somewhere quiet and secluded she can park so she can finish off her own nap for the day.

it’s not the worst thing in the world.

after all, she’s no stranger to sleeping in her car.

—

when toni wakes up, cheryl blossom is gone. 

her neck is aching and her cheek is swollen and bruised, but the first thing toni topaz does when she wakes up to the sun shining down on her through the trees of fox forest is look beside her to see that cheryl blossom is gone. 

and despite a deep part of her knowing that she’s now officially no longer in danger without the town’s most wanted woman by her side, toni can’t help but feel a little saddened by the loss of her. 

regardless, however, she makes her way back to her apartment building, parks outside and massages her neck with a groan of pain before she’s climbing the flight of stairs to the second level, and on the way, she comes across a young girl with her blonde hair in braided pigtails wearing a beanie and looking a little upset as the sound of loud yelling between two men echoes out above them.

she knows this girl, but barely. she’s heard her name shouted out a couple of times since her family moved into the apartment a floor above her…but it can’t possibly be her real name. 

‘jellybean’ hardly seems like a name for a person.

toni comes to a stop beside her with a frown, and the girl looks up at her with bright blue eyes that look filled with annoyance more than anything.

“they’ve been yelling all morning.” she grumbles.

“your father?” toni asks, sighing when the girl nods once.

“and my older brother. wish they’d shut the hell up.” jellybean murmurs, leaning against the railing and picking the white paint off the wood as toni purses her lips and reaches into her back pocket for her wallet.

“here…” she pulls out a ten dollar bill and hands it to her, and the girl’s eyes light up as she takes it from toni with a smile.

“for me?” she asks, causing toni to roll her eyes with a chuckle.

“yeah, for you, so you don’t go picking someone’s pockets again.” she says, reaching out to ruffle the beanie off her head and prompting jellybean to slap her hand away with a whine.

“it was one time!” she exclaims, and toni raises an eyebrow at her with a smirk as she chews on her bottom lip and rolls her eyes with a shrug.

“fine, maybe it’s a daily occurrence…he forgets to make dinner a lot.” she says simply, toni’s heart clenching at her words before she sighs and nods down the steps to the entrance of the apartment building.

“go get something to eat. just stay out of their way, kid. it’s not worth it. but also…stop stealing from people. it’s gonna land you in jail.” toni tells her, already walking down the hallway towards her apartment before jellybean’s voice echoes out to her from the staircase. 

“i’d probably be better off in there! at least i’d get three square meals a day!”

toni just laughs, because she can’t really argue with that. 

she spends her afternoon showering and thinking and praying that cheryl blossom is okay, which she knows she shouldn’t be doing, but fuck it, cheryl blossom needed her help last night and toni topaz fucking helped her and now she just wants to know if that help paid off. 

she fixes her hair up, braids and stares at the haphazard mess of pink dreadlocks before she sighs loudly and covers her lips with red, because it’s bret’s favorite color on her and he’s not someone she wants to piss off.

she dislikes him… _a lot_ , but he gave her a job and got her out of living in her car, she figures the least she can do is put on the lipstick color he likes seeing on her. 

it still sends a shiver up her spine though, and she adjusts her blazer and lets out a shaky breath before she’s making her way out of her apartment and to the infamous _la bonne nuit_ nightclub as the sun begins to go down. 

she arrives by the time the sun is well over the horizon, the last orange rays clinging to the dark blue sky as she makes her way inside and passes the painting of the lodge family, the previous owners of the club, that still hangs by the entrance behind the reception desk, but with crude drawings of crossed out eyes and tongue’s poking out drawn over each of the faces, a painting toni ignores as she makes her way inside and past the line of people waiting to get inside. 

the second she’s in, the loud thumping bass of music hits her eardrums, and she takes her blazer off and is barely making her way over to tend the bar and start her shift when rough fingers grip her bicep and she turns-

and comes face to face with malachai. 

her blood runs cold at the fact that he’s even touching her, because she might dislike bret weston wallis, but she fucking _hates_ malachai, his assistant. the guy is rude, misogynistic as fuck and also creepier than any guy toni has ever had the misfortune to meet. 

“don’t bother. boss wants to see you…seemed pretty important.” malachai drawls, smiling widely with his gold teeth glinting in the strobing lights of the club as toni purses her lips, but nods once and tries not to panic as she follows malachai over to where bret is sitting in a booth with some old man in a suit who looks completely out of place in a nightclub with thumping music and young people. 

the man walks off with his own entourage of people, and toni watches that fake ass smile wipe right off bret’s face as soon as they’re far enough away, this rage behind his eyes even making toni wince as malachai comes to a stop in front of him and whispers something into his ear. toni stays in her lane and keeps her distance, focuses on the crowd around her and how she’s going to keep her voice in check tonight like she does every night when she has to sing in this shit hole-

“what about the blossom girl?”

_that_ catches her attention.

toni’s ears perk up, but she doesn’t move her head or acknowledge her sudden interest at bret’s words as malachai sighs and shakes his head. 

“still no sign of her. but we’re looking, boss, don’t worry.” he says, gripping bret’s shoulder, and bret’s anger only multiples in his eyes before he’s looking to toni and-

“you! my little bird!” he cries out, all anger gone and replaced with excitement and almost awe as he makes his way over to her with a smile as bright as the lights continuing to strobe around them. toni does her best to smile back, but it’s creepy and he’s creepy and she hates all of it-

“i’m promoting you!” 

_oh shit._

toni’s eyes widen in shock, bret clearly misinterpreting it for excitement as he laughs and clutches her hands into his own, pulling her into his embrace and swaying with her on the spot as toni clears her throat uncomfortably and tries to relax into his hold despite not feeling relaxed at all in it.

“mmm, i need a new driver! that… _divine_ little cheryl blossom broke my driver’s legs a few nights ago when she learned about her brother, and i’m in need of a new one. you won’t have to bartend anymore…or sing. you’ll just drive me, to and fro. the pay rise is…exponential. are you in?” he whispers into her ear, causing a shiver to run up her spine as he trails his fingers up and down her arms…

she won’t have to bartend? or sing? 

she won’t have to sing…

“you had me at not bartending anymore.” toni croaks out, smiling as best as she can as bret laughs joyfully and pulls back to grip her face into his hands, pinching just a little too hard at her jaw as he does.

“ugh, little bird, you keep me young! but please…one last time for me?” he pleads with a pout, pointing to the stage where a microphone stands tall, one that has toni staring at it apprehensively just as she has for the last four years since she started this job, and despite how badly she wants to say no…

“…sure.” she says with the fakest smile she can muster.

“brava!” bret cries, clapping his hands as toni makes her way over to the stage, but not before she hears bret grab malachai and pull him in close-

“malachai…find the blossom girl. and hunt down mr. banks and his wife and son…no one says ‘no’ to me. _no one._ ” 

“of course, boss.” 

toni’s stomach turns, tears pricking her eyes, but she licks her lips and steps up onto the stage, tries to focus on what she needs to do right now.

her mother’s words echo in her mind.

_“it comes from within, antoinette. it’s all about breath…stay calm and calculated, don’t rush your breathing…and it **won’t** happen.”_

so, toni raises the microphone, forgets about her mother, about the rage resting inside her, the untapped potential in her chest and her voice that’s begging to come out…

and sings.

—

“cooper!”

the sound of her name being shouted by the boy who grew up by her side and became the man who is a consistent thorn in her side has betty cooper rubbing her temples with a groan before she’s draining her fourth cup of coffee for the day dry and pushing herself up off her desk. 

she already knows what he’s going to say, what he’s going to chastise her for, and she figures she might as well start pretending to care from now because it’s going to be hard to keep a straight face when she watched mr sheriff shit his pants when he was fifteen years old-

“you wanted to see me?” she says with a clear of her throat, already suppressing a smile at the memory as archie andrews looks up at her with rage in his eyes and defeat in his bones.

“what’s this i hear mantle saying about you being at _la bonne nuit_ last night?” he says somewhat calmly, leaning back into his chair as betty steps inside and closes the door behind her with a roll of her eyes. 

“i was…” she starts, but trails off, turning around to look archie andrews dead in the eyes as he glares at her. and his dumb glare brings her to a quick decision.

to tell the fucking truth.

“fine. i was getting more information on weston-wallis. my guy on the inside has been radio silent for a couple days, i was scared he might’ve been made, so i did his job for him.” betty says simply, rocking on her feet as archie runs his fingers through his hair and clenches his jaw, clearly trying his best not to loose his mind.

“why do you have a man on the inside in the first place?! for god’s sake, cooper, i told you to leave the weston-wallis family alone!” archie hisses, jumping up out of his seat and looking at her incredulously as betty scoffs and shakes her head.

she’s so sick of the goddamn corruption, and she _knows_ archie is in bret’s back pocket, she’s sick of denying it or turning a blind eye to save his ass-

“why, because they’re making a play for the blossoms?! they won, archie, the only blossom left is cheryl! which, by the way…are we even doing anything to protect her?!” betty says with a scoff, throwing her arms in the air in exasperation as archie swallows thickly and simply bows his head.

“…no one can find her.” he murmurs.

“you mean no one’s _looking_ for her.” betty growls, clenching her fists in anger, because yeah, she might not like the blossoms and certainly not cheryl blossom (the redhead can blame breaking betty’s nose a few years back for her dislike of her now), but the girl still needs to be protected, and they’re supposed to be _protectors._

_god, this job means **nothing** now…_

“that’s none of your business! you know what is?! the murders that have been happening over the last few months between new york and riverdale! the pearl strangler? remember that case?” archie exclaims, prompting betty to roll her eyes again with a scoff.

“no one has any leads on that case! a bunch of mobsters and capos killed by strangulation with pearls, and we’re supposed to know who’s doing it?! it’s unheard of! but weston-wallis has been trying to take over this town for years, and if he gets his hands on that lost lodge diamond with the codes to their offshore accounts, he’ll have the money to do it!” betty says harshly, fingering the cuffs on her belt as archie growls in frustration and moves around the desk towards her angrily.

“it’s a _theory!_ a theory that has no proof! you know what we do have proof of? the pearl choker murders!” archie practically screams, causing a few people outside of his office to look up in shock as he exhales shakily while betty just stands there with her fists still clenched and this rage building up inside her, how fucking _dare_ he raise his voice at her, treat her like a child, they aren’t fucking five years old growing up on elm street anymore-

“betty…you are _this_ close to getting suspended! i am trying to save your ass here-.”

“i don’t need you to save me! i’m close to closing in on bret here, i just need another guy on the inside-.” betty starts angrily, but once again, archie cuts her off.

“you’re off the case, betty! focus on the murders or i will suspend you! don’t force me to do that, not when we grew up together and-.”

“and what? had a _thing?_ screw you, archie.” betty growls, and before he can say anything else, she’s storming out of the sheriff’s office, _his_ office, and making her way back to her own desk, slamming the door shut so hard, the glass cracks. 

—

driving bret weston-wallis around isn’t…terrible. the dude pretty much keeps to himself and forces toni to stay in the car while he’s off doing business, but that doesn’t stop toni from hearing the screams of pain and agony through the car window every time he’s doing said business, and it makes her want to scream and cry and run away, but mostly, it just makes her sad.

sad that she’s in this situation. 

but she grits her teeth and drives, does as he asks, and even sings softly when he requests it from her, because he’s a powerful man and she’s not a powerful woman. he could kill her with a snap of her fingers and she can’t do anything to stop him. 

she sighs and grabs her wallet and keys, glancing down at the text message from malachai telling her to come to the club asap, and she’s just about to exit her apartment when there’s a knock on her door.

she frowns, but opens it all the same to see a blonde haired, green eyed girl that she’s never met before staring at her with her blonde ponytail swinging and a smile on her face.

“you toni topaz?” she asks, holding out a cup of coffee that toni gladly takes with a raised eyebrow as she looks this girl up and down.

“who’s asking?”

“officer betty cooper with the riverdale police department…heard you got a promotion.” she says swiftly, and toni immediately shuts her apartment door harshly and locks it before she’s taking off down the hallway with a scoff of disbelief.

“word gets around, huh? not interested, take a hike.” she grumbles, making her way down the stairs without a backwards glance.

“you haven’t even heard my pitch!” betty calls out.

“like i said, not interested!” toni says, raising a hand in goodbye and taking a sip of the coffee that isn’t even that good, fuck this girl-

“you know he’s not a good man! what would your mother think if she knew you were working for someone like bret weston-wallis?” betty says suddenly.

toni stops dead in her tracks.

her heart clenches, tears immediately pricking her eyes at the mention of the woman who raised her, nurtured her, _loved_ her…the only person in her life who ever did…

“well, if she were still alive, maybe i wouldn’t be working for him in the first place.” toni manages to spit out, fists clenched as she turns around and makes her way back up the stairs, causing betty to step back warily with wide eyes. 

“she was a good person, toni. she may have been the leader of the southside serpents, but they were a good gang, and they were intent on keeping everyone safe! she helped us try to clean this town of drug dealers and assholes like weston-wallis and the blossoms-.”

“yeah, and she paid the ultimate price for it! always putting others before herself and what did it get her?” toni growls, coming to a stop in front of betty and trying her absolute best not to punch her goddamn lights out-

“i know you can do what she could.” betty whispers, quickly glancing around to make sure no one’s eavesdropping as toni scoffs in disbelief.

trust some nosy cop to know something she’s never fucking told _anyone…_

“i _know_ about your abilities, toni. you’re _wasting_ them! help us like she did-.”

“when her body was found five days after she disappeared in sweet water river, where were your boys in blue then, huh?” toni whispers through clenched teeth, tears in her eyes as betty looks at her with a mixture of sadness and sympathy.

none of which toni wants or needs from her. 

“yeah…that’s what i thought. you want me to make the same mistake she did? hard pass. now leave me the hell alone.” she hisses, and betty purses her lips and bows her head before toni spins on her heel and makes her way down the stairs, making sure the coffee makes a loud thunk against the bottom of the bin she throws it into as she makes her exit. 

—

“there you are, little bird!”

bret’s voice echoes out as toni makes her way into his office, fake smile perfectly intact as she enters to him skipping toward her with an extra bounce in his step and humming softly as he does.

“mmm, i need you to do a job for me. you and malachai need to pick up a package for me that’s just arrived from overseas in the loading docks at the sweet water pier. think you can do that?” he asks, coming to a stop in front of her and once again pinching her cheeks, one of which is still healing as she winces and grits her teeth before forcing a smile.

“of course. we’ll leave right away.”

“you’re too precious, little bird. go now!” he sing songs, waving her off and leaving toni looking at him and wondering if he’s even ten percent sane as malachai, who she knows is not even one percent sane, makes a kissy face at her and leads the way out of the club. 

the ride to the pier is silent, but there’s this uncomfortable tension in the car the entire time, and toni knows it stems from malachai’s general dislike of her, but she can’t find it in her to care. she just does her job and drives to the pier, gets out of the car and goes inside and asks for bret’s package.

she’s expecting something big, something that might not even fit in her car, but she’s surprised when the man returns with a small, blue velvet box and shoves it into an envelope before he’s handing it to her, and she shrugs and takes it before she makes her exit. 

“did you get it?” malachai drawls as soon as she clambers into the driver’s seat, and she rolls her eyes and throws the envelope at him before she’s starting the car and making her way back to the club without a word. 

they’re almost back at _la bonne nuit_ , toni unable to stop herself from glancing over at the box that malachai keeps throwing up into the air like it’s a toy to play with, and she frowns and nods at it.

“what is it, anyway?” she asks curiously, watching as malachai clears his throat and pockets it before he suddenly nods to the sidewalk.

“pull over, i want a sandwich.” he grunts, and toni raises an eyebrow before she pulls over and parks the car, sighing loudly as malachai jumps out and walks over to the nearest restaurant. toni takes a moment before she gets out as well, stretching her legs and making her way towards the meter to feed it a few coins because god knows how long malachai will take…

she digs into her pockets and hits another person’s hand, and she’s gripping a wrist and tugging on it, spinning around and coming face to face with none other than-

“jellybean? what the _fuck_ are you doing, kid?!” toni hisses at the young girl, who adjusts her beanie with her free hand and tries to yank her other out of toni’s grip.

“i just wanted to see-.”

“wanted to steal, you mean! what did i say about pick pocketing?” toni growls, letting her go as jellybean rolls her eyes and gives her the finger before she’s walking off, and toni watches her go in disbelief before she shakes her head.

“punk ass kid!” she yells, reaching into her pocket once again to grab her coins. she heard loud sirens and watches as a cop car races down the road, and she frowns and sees it suddenly turn and come to a stop in front of jellybean, who comes stuttering to a stop with a gasp. toni feels her heart drop.

“shit.” 

she rushes over quickly to malachai, who is standing outside of the restaurant he just ordered a sandwich from with a cigarette between his lips, a chuckle leaving them as he digs into his pocket for his lighter-

“hey, she just stole my watch!” some lady yells angrily, pointing at jellybean as the officer jumps out of his car, and jellybean curses loudly and raises her hands in surrender as toni groans and is about to step forward-

“where’s the diamond?” malachai says suddenly, digging into his pockets even more and looking around the floor as toni looks at him in confusion.

“what?”

“the box! it was in my pocket, it’s gone! where the fuck is it?!” he screams, looking at her with wild eyes and tossing his cigarette as toni blinks in surprise at the fact that apparently there was a fucking diamond in that box before-

“fuck! FUCK!”

toni watches as the officer jumps back into his car and begins to back out of the spot he’s parked in with jellybean in the back seat, and toni runs as fast as she can, but he’s already pulling away-

“WAIT! WAIT, STOP!” toni screams, feet pounding on the concrete as malachai follows close behind her, but he’s already gone.

and jellybean and the diamond are gone with him.

—

the town of riverdale has been cheryl blossom’s home from the second she was born in riverdale general hospital almost two and a half decades ago. the small town on the outskirts of new york has been a place of chaos and destruction, sure, but it’s been her home.

but cheryl feels like home should feel a little more safe, a little more secure.

she’s not sure she’s ever really had that in her life now that she thinks about it. 

it’s depressing, but it’s her life, and cheryl blossom finds herself shaking off her pout and her tears as she pushes herself up off the ground she’s currently napping on.

in the goddamn panic room of the blossom manor that can only be accessed with a blossom thumb print.

it’s times like this where she’s thankful that jason, despite his hatred for her, had put her fingerprint in the system after their parents had died. 

it’s not like the panic room is much, it’s a small room with just a mattress and a few non-perishable food items, and cheryl quickly checks the security cameras on the computer monitor in the corner of the room to make sure no one is outside or inside the manor, flicking through over a hundred different cameras and finding no one.

it seems too good to be true. 

she frowns, but decides to take the risk.

she so shouldn’t have taken the risk.

the panic room door barely slides open, and cheryl barely peeks her head outside of it before she hears the sound of a gun cocking and feels the barrel of it being pressed to her temple.

her heart stops, and she lets out a groan of disappointment and glances to the side as she raises her hands in surrender.

“hiya sweetheart.” the man says with a chuckle, and cheryl chews on her bottom lip and smiles with as much charm as she can before she licks her lips and nods at him.

“ummm…have mercy?” she asks with a wince. he rolls his eyes, but grips her bicep so hard, her pale skin turns red almost instantly from the pressure before he’s dragging her out of the room with the gun pointed right between her ribs. they enter the main foyer, where five other men are waiting.

and at the sight of them, cheryl slumps in defeat, realizes there’s no pink haired beauty to save her ass this time as she sighs morosely and allows these burly men to lead her outside to a black sedan.

“why do all the bad guys drive cars like that? it’s so typical.” she grumbles, but she’s ignored as usual, and she decides to try her luck with finding out who these men work for instead.

“so…where we going?” she asks lightly, smiling as best as she can despite her fear as the man holding a gun to her side shoves her into the backseat of one of the cars and quickly follows in after her. 

“boss wants to see you.” he says gruffly, closing the door and pointing the gun right at her face once more as cheryl blows a piece of hair out of her face with a roll of her eyes and a huff of annoyance.

“and who is said ‘boss’?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest and sinking back into her seat, but the man remains quiet. 

and that’s how he stays the entire goddamn ride to…well, wherever the hell they’re going, doesn’t say a word as cheryl gets antsier and antsier the more that time goes by. she bites her nails, eyes darting all over the place looking for some escape, but they’ve locked the doors so she can’t throw herself out of the car, and the windows are bulletproof, which means her elbow won’t be breaking through it.

she’s fucking trapped. 

…might as well have some fun with it.

“wanna play ‘i spy’?” she asks with a grin to the man beside her, and when he doesn’t reply, she hums and glances around the car before she spots a red stain that looks an awful lot like blood on the back of the passenger seat, and she grins and looks to mr. gun pointer with raised eyebrow.

“i spy with my little eye something beginning with-.” 

“you do realize i have a gun pointed at your face, right?” he says firmly, turning to look at her sternly as if he’s telling her off and not threatening her life. 

“you’re not the first man to point a gun to my face. i’m still here!” she says proudly, leaning back into her seat and ignoring the voice in her head that tells her it was her family that mostly pointed those guns in her face, shut up, she knows that, she fucking knows-

“keep talking and you won’t be.” he grunts, and cheryl rolls her eyes.

“mmm…your boss wants me alive i presume? yeah…i’m pretty confident i’m not going anywhere.” she says, still grinning as more voices in her head tell her she shouldn’t be playing with her life, but what worth does it have anymore anyway? why not have fun with it, why not, she can have fun, why not-

the car screeches to a stop, and cheryl looks up to see the entrance to _la bonne nuit_ staring back at her.

“…fucking bret weston-wallis.” cheryl hisses, scoffing in disbelief as the man opens his door and slides out before waving cheryl forward with his gun. cheryl just follows after him in defeat, sighing as he grabs her already bruised arm and drags her out of the car, gun pointed to her ribs once more.

_he’s gonna kill you, he’s just as crazy as you are!_

“maybe, maybe not…” cheryl murmurs to herself, prompting mr. gun pointer to dig his gun into her ribs a little harder. 

“shut it.” 

_shut up, they want you to shut up, you gonna shut up? shut up, shut up, shut up-_

cheryl winces, squeezes her eyes shut and tries to block the voices out as she’s lead through the club towards the stage, where more guards are standing, and there’s a single chair in the middle of it.

a chair that mr. gun pointer leads her towards and sits her down in harshly before he’s yanking her hands behind the back of the chair and quickly handcuffing them, the harsh click of the metal bringing back a memory buried deep within the recesses of her brain-

_“you can stay here until you learn to obey, cheryl!”_

_“sister woodhouse, please! don’t do this, don’t! sister woodhouse-.”_

“hey!”

a harsh sting to the cheek brings cheryl back into the present, the taste of blood flooding her mouth and tongue as it probes the cut flesh of her bottom lip, and she blinks away the stars and birds flying around her head, looks at the man who frowns at her and shakes his head.

“stay with us, crazy.” he murmurs. cheryl hums softly, winces and shakes away the pain as she hears soft, but harsh voices from somewhere behind her.

“ _find_ it, malachai, i don’t care if you have to torture the entire goddamn town to get it!”

“i’m on it, boss, we’ll find that diamond, don’t you worry…why don’t you focus on the blossom girl, keep yourself happy for a while?” 

“mmm…yes, i wouldn’t mind that…just for a moment…”

“just for a moment…go on, boss. our gift to you…”

_he’s gonna hurt you, he’s gonna hurt you, he’s gonna hurt you-_

cheryl shifts in her chair, tries desperately break out of the cuffs, but of course, nothing works, and she hears footsteps echoing out behind her slowly, hauntingly…like she’s prey and he’s the predator.

“cheryl blossom! as i live and breathe!” bret weston-wallis calls out, clapping his hands and laughing like this is all some big game as cheryl swallows the lump in her throat and puts on her fakest smile.

“wanna tell me what i’m doing here, bret, honey?!” she calls out, licking her lips and wincing at the metallic taste of blood once more before bret finally enters her line of vision, that cheshire like grin on his face as his clapping finally stops. he stares down at her wickedly as she blinks up at him with that same smile, and he chuckles and leans down to stare her straight in the eyes. 

“you’re here because…well, you’re the last piece of a very, very annoying puzzle. a puzzle that has been such a thorn in my side for so many years…” he says with a sigh, reaching out to curl a lock of her hair around his finger, which he sniffs, eyes closing as if he’s getting off on trying to be intimate with her when it’s the last thing she wants from him…

“ahhh, well…i aim to please!” she says with false sweetness, fists clenching behind her back while bret laughs and tugs on her hair slightly before he lets her go.

“you and i both know that’s a lie, cheryl!” bret sing songs, wagging his finger in front of her face as she rolls her eyes and resists the urge to spit in his dumb, dog looking face as he reaches into his pocket for something…

_do it anyway, he deserves it-_

cold steel pressed to her neck, digging in slightly and causing her to wince from the sting of it as bret’s sadistic grin only grows wider the harder he digs his knife into her skin-

“wh-what does killing me accomplish, bret? i don’t have any c-control over the family business! killing me won’t fix it, won’t bring you power over the town-.” cheryl begins frantically, and bret presses the steel blade against her lips, the taste of her blood hitting her tongue once again.

“mmm, no, but it’ll make me feel good.” bret murmurs, eyes observing every inch of her face, from her blown pupils and wide brown eyes to her red stained lipstick smudged lips, to the scar above her brown and the one on her cheek and across her jaw when jay jay got a little mad at her and tried to peel her face off, a line that bret traces with the tip of his knife just a little too hard-

“wait! wait, you s-said…you said you were m-missing a diamond! that someone stole it from you! let me get it back!” cheryl says quickly, her heart racing and her hands struggling against the handcuffs once more as bret narrows his eyes, but stops dragging that damn blade across her skin, clearly intrigued by what she’s saying.

“and how are you going to do that?” he asks softly, grinning widely as cheryl grins back and nods eagerly.

“i can do it! you’d be surprised how good i am at getting stuff done! i’m a good, uh…seeker?” she says with a wince, panting for air as bret’s knife trails down her jaw and neck and down to her collarbone, tracing the bone with the tip, but not cutting her skin at least-

“you’ll say anything to keep yourself alive, won’t you?” he says hollowly, looking up at her through hooded lids as if he’s had a sudden personality switch, this sadistic smile taking over while cheryl swallows thickly and tries to think of a response.

she doesn’t have one. he’s kind of right.

“mmm…how many times did you ramble on like this to dear daddy or your brother to make sure they kept you alive?” he whispers, leaning in closer to her and dragging the blade back up to her neck while cheryl freezes, those voices in her mind replaying her worst memories over and over and over and over-

_“hold still, cheryl! this is what happens when you break the rules!”_

it’s not fair, that’s not fair, her mind can’t be allowed to bring all that back up…

“how hard did they beat you, huh? did they beat you so hard they drove you crazy? or was that the years you spent in the sisters of quiet mercy as a teenager?” bret asks, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear gently as if he’s doing her a favor while cheryl feels herself slowly beginning to lose touch of reality the more he brings up things she’d rather bury in her past…

“oh yeah…everyone knows about that, cheryl…how your parents weren’t too happy with your…predilections.” bret says with a chuckle, as if it’s funny, as if those sons of bitches frying her brain because she kissed a girl and her parents didn’t like it is somehow something hilarious-

_you kissed a girl and it was wrong, they fried your brain, and fried it good!_

“did they drive you crazy when they tried to beat the gay out of you, or were you born crazy, huh, cheryl?” bret teases, fingers tracing over the scar on her brow, she got that when they threw her into the bathroom and she hit the tiled floor, head spinning and bleeding profusely as they stripped her bare and doused her in scalding hot water-

_but it wasn’t too bad, it was winter, you were cold-_

“shut up, shut up, shut up…” cheryl murmurs, trying to silence those voices, they’re so damn loud, she wants them to just _stop_ , just for a second, please, they haven’t stopped for so long…

“what _else_ did they do to you?” bret asks with wonder, fingers tracing over the scars on her forearms now, she made those with the metal screw on her bed frame in that horrid place-

she remembers hands touching her thighs, remembers not being able to move, remembers the nurses encouraging the male orderly to keep touching her…

“shut up, shut up, shut up…”

she’s shaking, she can feel it, she hopes bret knows what he’s doing right now because she can feel the edges of her mind beginning to blur-

“all these scars…like little tattoos, marking you as their bitch-.” 

“SHUT UP!” 

she screams so loud, so suddenly, teeth biting and snapping, desperate for its pound of flesh, eyes wild and body thrashing in the chair she’s tied in while bret watches on in wonderment and awe at what he’s witnessing.

he’s seen her on her wildest days, hell, he watched as she broke his driver’s legs just a week ago, but this…

this is different. this is _fascinating._

this is also dangerous.

he rushes forward as soon as he hears the chair splinter, and with a single squeeze of her pulse point with his fingers as he grips her throat, cheryl blossom glares at him through clenched teeth and wide eyes before her body relaxes slightly into her chair, breath ragged and pulse racing against his thumb as he breathes into her face and licks his lips, looking her up and down once more.

“i heard he branded you…where?” he murmurs, hand squeezing just a little tighter around her neck as cheryl blinks back tears and doesn’t reply.

she won’t tell him…she won’t…she won’t, she can’t…

“where?” bret hisses, fingers squeezing to the point where he’s cutting off her air supply, but she won’t give in, she won’t, she won’t give him the satisfaction-

_ding dong, you can’t breathe! JUST TELL HIM-_

“arm!” she manages to gasp out through bared teeth, breathing in shakily with a trembling body as bret releases his hold on her throat enough for her to suck in a painful breath, lungs squeezing painfully…

bret’s hand trails down, and this time, cheryl truly is blinking back as many tears as she can now as she whines and wriggles under his touch the more it trails down, down, but he doesn’t touch her in any kind of way, not until he’s looping a finger into the armband she keeps around her bicep and pulling it down, down until he’s revealing the deformed and burned skin, a twisted ‘j’ standing so present against her pale complexion…

“ah…there it is.” bret whispers, looking up at her as he brushes his thumb over it tenderly, as if this isn’t painful for her, as if he’s somehow fucking soothing her, this isn’t soothing, this is embarrassing, this is torture, she’s gonna fucking bite his fucking nose the fuck off-

“did jason do that to you?” bret asks, shaking his head as if he truly is sympathizing with her, oh she’ll kill him, she will…

just not now, with about twelve of his guards watching them with guns trained right to the back of her head.

she’s fucking crazy, she knows that, but even she’s not crazy enough to attempt that. 

_i’ll kill you yet, bret weston-wallis, don’t you worry…_

“do you want your fucking diamond or not?” cheryl spits out, her eyes blazing with anger that’s strong enough to murder as bret chuckles and bites down on his lower lip to hide his smile, observing her…

“you’re talking shit as usual, blossom. but i’ll play your little game. i’ll give you till midnight. get me my diamond, and i’ll spare your life.” he says firmly, standing tall and tapping her cheek before he’s walking away and waving his hand nonchalantly while cheryl dissociates and tries desperately to pull herself back into reality.

“let her go! let her attempt to save her pathetic life! it will be…entertaining!”

—

“hey cooper, think it’s smart to piss off the boss?” 

reggie mantle’s voice is loud and annoying and so close to her ear that it takes every fucking ounce of betty’s self control not to turn around and kick his ass as she bares her teeth and smiles as best as she can.

“shut your mouth, mantle, before i kick your balls up your throat!” she hisses through her teeth, and before reggie can retaliate, betty’s phone begins ringing in her back pocket, and she pulls it out and answers it perhaps a little too harshly in her anger.

“what?” 

“is this officer cooper?” the voice asks hurriedly.

“yes, this is she. who is this?” betty asks with a sigh, scratching at her brow before-

“look, i don’t have a lot of time, alright? bret’s after a diamond, and he almost got his hands on it, but some kid picked the pocket of his assistant and i watched as she got arrested, which means she’s with you! her name is jellybean jones, i don’t know her real name! she’s got blonde hair, blue eyes, wears a beanie!” the voice says quickly and quietly, and it slowly dawns on betty who this voice belongs to.

toni topaz…bret weston-wallis’s driver.

“fuck…fuck, fuck, fuck-.”

jellybean jones…fuck, betty knows her, that kid has been arrested at least four times now for stealing, and now she’s landed herself in the hottest fucking water imaginable…

“you gotta find that kid and find that diamond right the fuck now! bret won’t hesitate to kill her, even if she’s a kid!” toni says in a panic, the sound of ruffling on the other end of the line as betty begins making her way towards the processing area.

“i’m on it! he hasn’t sent anyone our way, has he?” betty demands, skipping right past the sheriff’s station cause she knows archie won’t believe a word she says anyway.

“not that i know of-.”

BANG. 

betty drops her phone in complete shock, hears toni shouting her name on the other end of the line before she’s running straight towards the processing area, drawing her gun as she does.

“what the fuck was that?!” one of the officers shouts, and before betty can answer, another loud bang echoes out, this time causing a slight shaking around the station, the ground rumbling beneath her feet and causing her to stumble, and she realizes it’s coming harder from the left…

“it’s coming from the holding cells!” betty roars, running straight towards the holding cells and kicking her foot against the door as hard as she can. it busts open, and she rushes inside with her gun raised and sweat dripping down her forehead, panic and fear, but also focus gripping her as she runs inside of the holding cells-

and sees a bunch of bodies on the floor, some unconscious, some groaning and writhing in pain…

“jesus christ…jellybean?!” betty calls out, making her way through cautiously but quickly before she reaches the end of the holding cells where there’s an open door that leads to the parking garage…

“fuck!” 

betty runs right through the door, past a couple of cars before she sees a head of red hair with a small body over it’s shoulder-

“cheryl blossom! freeze!” betty screams, pointing her gun right at cheryl blossom’s back and prompting the redhead to turn slowly as she narrows her eyes at betty with a heavy sigh. 

“what do _you_ want?” she grumbles.

“put the kid down! you and i can talk, we can sort something out!” betty says quickly, eyeing the girl over her shoulder that seems to be unconscious as cheryl turns around with a scoff and begins walking towards the exit once more.

“cheryl, don’t make me shoot you, please!” betty says urgently, cocking her gun once more and stepping closer, and cheryl once again spins around, but this time, there’s something in her left hand-

before betty can even react, something sharp hits her stomach-

and she’s being shocked, thousands and thousands of volts of electricity slamming into her body, and she feels herself stumble back until her head is hitting something hard and she’s falling to the ground with blurred vision and blacked out edges that quickly take over until she’s swimming in darkness.

—

cheryl grunts in frustration, shoves the kid for the eighth time since they started driving about half an hour ago, but the kid remains as unconscious as ever, prompting cheryl to sigh before a brilliant idea strikes her.

she grins and quickly jerks the wheel to the side, causing the car to swerve and causing jellybean’s head to go crashing into the closed window, and she lets out a groan of pain before she’s clutching her head and slowly blinking her eyes open.

“finally, fuck me! bout time!” cheryl exclaims, laughing as jellybean looks at her with a wince and another loud groan.

“what…where the hell am i?” she whines, but cheryl shakes her head and cuts straight to the point, because she did not take down about twenty or so cops and a room full of prisoners in holding cells with flash bang grenades and smoke bombs and her own kick-assery for this kid to flake on her.

she’s pretty sure one of those assholes got a hit on her and knocked a tooth out, and there’s definitely a cut above her brow because something’s been dripping down the side of her face and when she poked her tongue out for a taste, it definitely tasted like her blood, she’s tasted that enough damn times in her life to know what it is…

“where’s the diamond?” she demands immediately. cheryl practically watches the kid’s face pale at her words, and jellybean’s mouth hangs open for a second before she’s stammering.

“what-what diamond?”

“don’t play dumb, kid, i’m in no mood! where is it?” cheryl growls, reaching into her bra for her small switch blade, which she unsheathes and points straight at jellybean.

“i…i-.” jelly stutters, eyeing the blade anxiously, but all her stammering just makes cheryl angrier. 

“if you don’t tell me, i’ll-.”

“i swallowed it, okay?!” jellybean cries out.

cheryl’s heart drops.

“the cops had me in the back of the car and i didn’t wanna lose it! i’m not dumb, i know what diamonds are worth!” jellybean says quickly, looking at cheryl in panic as the redhead squeezes the switch blade angrily before-

“FUCK! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!” cheryl screams, palms slamming the steering wheel and causing the horn of whatever car they’ve stolen to honk repeatedly with each smack before she’s collapsing into the driver’s seat with a pant of air and tears pricking her eyes.

_don’t panic…don’t panic, you’ve got the kid, she’s just…_

“gotta shit it out.” cheryl breathes.

“what?” jellybean asks in confusion. cheryl grins widely, turns to look at the kid before she’s gripping her by the collar and pulling her in close.

“you and i are going to the store to buy laxatives, and then, you’re gonna shit that diamond out! or i’m gonna cut it out of you! got it?” cheryl hisses through bared teeth right into jellybean’s face, glaring wickedly when the kid nods furiously with a whimper of panic. 

“g-got it!” she squeaks.

and cheryl glares at her for a beat more before she grins widely with excitement.

“great! now…let’s go home.” 

—

“what the fuck happened, betty?!”

archie andrews is beyond furious, and betty cooper’s head throbs painfully as she holds the ice pack in her hands closer to the lump slowly forming at the back of her head, waving away the doctor that keeps waving a damn light in her face despite clearing her of a concussion ten minutes ago. 

“blossom came in, took the kid!” betty growls, standing up slowly and sighing loudly as archie runs his fingers through his hair and glares at her in anger and confusion. 

“what kid?! why is she after a kid in the first place?!” archie shouts, looking at her as if he’s demanding answers, and betty tries her best not to roll her damn eyes, because she knows she’s not gonna hear the end of it once she tells him the truth, but there’s kind of a smug satisfaction in knowing she’s about to essentially give him a big fat ‘i told you so’. 

“i got an anonymous tip, archie! from someone on the inside with bret weston-wallis! my guess? cheryl blossom told him she’d get the kid back, because the kid has the diamond that bret is after!” betty says smugly, grinning widely and crossing her arms over her chest as archie clenches his jaw with wide eyes, clearly processing what she’s just said. 

oh, how betty can’t wait to hear those beautiful words…’you were right, betty’, he’s gonna say it, he’s gonna-

“you’re suspended.”

betty’s heart clenches. 

her eyes snap open, arms dropping to her sides uselessly as archie licks his lips and nods once, clearly happy with the decision he’s just made to suspend one of his oldest goddamn friends. 

“wh-what?” betty barely manages to get out, the shock making her incoherent, making her speechless, making her…

_this is not happening…_

“without pay. turn in your gun and your badge, pending further investigation into your conduct. i warned you, betty.” archie says, pointing a finger at her like this is all her fault, like he’s not her good friend, like he’s not someone she once loved or cared about and…

he just suspended her. he just…

he’s on bret’s payroll. he must be…

_fuck him. and fuck this place._

“…this place is a joke, archie. and fuck me, so are you.” she hisses, unclipping her badge from her belt and slamming it onto his desk before she’s pulling her gun out of the holster around her belt and doing the same, leaving him with a middle finger and without a backwards glance.

—

“have you shit yet?!” cheryl screams, banging on the door of the gas station restroom, waiting impatiently before-

“not yet!” jellybean yells out.

“ugh…” cheryl whines, stomping her feet on the ground with a petulant whine before she hears the toilet flush and the water running. 

“doesn’t wanna come out, what can i say?” jellybean calls out. 

“unbelievable! you gotta get that diamond out, kid! do you understand who bret weston-wallis is?! he’ll kill you to get it, he doesn’t care who you are! you could be the fucking president!” cheryl growls, rolling her eyes as the door opens and jellybean looks at her with a grin and a shrug.

“yeah, well, losing him wouldn’t be much of a loss.” she says simply.

and cheryl blinks once in surprise before she’s laughing loudly and reaching out to ruffle the kid’s hair, her beanie moving as she looks up at cheryl with a grin.

“ha! that’s a good one!” cheryl tells her, chuckling still as she unwraps a lollipop she just stole from the gas station and begins to suck on it as they make their way down the road. their stolen car ran out of gas and it’s not like cheryl has money on her to refill it, so…

on foot it is.

jellybean pulls out a candy bar from her pocket that cheryl knows she most definitely didn’t pay for, and cheryl can’t help but laugh in excitement and think that maybe having the kid around isn’t the _worst_ thing in the world…

“how are you so good at pick-pocketing?” cheryl asks, and jellybean shrugs and takes a bite of her bar.

“just learned how to do it. gotta survive somehow.”

well…cheryl can sympathize with that. she nods, looking at jellybean for a moment before-

“so…what’s your favorite movie?” cheryl asks, watching as the kid begins skipping before she joins her happily, skipping right alongside her. 

“i dunno…i watched this movie called ‘kill bill’ the other day, it was pretty sick.” jellybean pants out with a shrug, and cheryl stops short and looks at her with wide eyes before-

“…nice pick! let’s watch it!” she says with a grin, laughing when jellybean looks at her in surprise before she’s clapping her hands excitedly.

“really? i never got to finish it, my brother shut it off before i could ‘cause he said it wasn’t ‘appropriate’.” jellybean grumbles, and cheryl rolls her eyes with a scoff.

“brothers are lame, fuck ‘em, so yeah, why not? you’re not shitting any time soon and we need to do something to fill the time! lets get home, kid.” cheryl says, wrapping an arm around jellybean’s shoulders and already contemplating if she can catch a bus to blossom manor, or steal one, then she wouldn’t have to worry about running off before paying…

it isn’t until three streets later that cheryl picks up on something being…off. 

every street they turn into, there’s heavy footfalls behind them, but every time cheryl glances behind her, no one’s there…it doesn’t make any sense, but the way the hairs on the back of her head are standing tells her she’s not wrong…something is definitely going on, she just…doesn’t know what…

“something’s wrong.” she murmurs, pulling jellybean to a stop as the girl turns to look at her in confusion.

“what?” she asks, but cheryl doesn’t answer, just grips jellybean’s hand in her own before she’s running ahead and dragging the kid with her.

“cheryl, what-.”

“just shut up and run!” cheryl yells, running as fast as her legs will carry her despite the high heeled boots and ripped jeans she’s wearing, rushing down as fast as she can, but she can still hear those fucking heavy footfalls-

someone’s definitely following them, right? she’s not crazy-well, maybe she is a little, but-

“here!” cheryl drags jellybean down an alleyway, praying that there’s another opening to this alleyway but of course, her luck is shit and it’s closed off.

“fuck…fuck, fuck, fuck…” 

“cheryl, what’s going on?” jellybean asks with nothing but fear dripping from her tone, and at the sound of it, cheryl finds her usually cold and devoid heart aching as she bends down and grips the kid’s arms tightly.

“go down there and hide. get into a trash can for all i care, just make sure no one can see you, okay?” cheryl says hurriedly, pushing jellybean further down the alleyway where a bunch of dumpsters and trash cans are.

“wait, what are you gonna do?!” jellybean asks frantically, and cheryl hears the sound of those heavy footfalls coming nearer and nearer…

“…buy us some time. go!” she says urgently, shoving jellybean once more and turning around to face whatever is waiting for her. 

yeah, maybe she should just hand the kid over and run, but, well…she’s just a kid.

and cheryl’s not about to subject that kid to torture and pain, right? she’s not that terrible of a person…not that cold…

three figures, three very _big_ figures appear at the entrance to the alleyway, and cheryl feels all her resolve fade.

oh, she’s so fucked. 

“alright, well…maybe we can discuss something here, boys-.”

she’s barely finishes her sentence before the first guy is swinging for her, and cheryl only barely manages to stumble back and avoid his left hook before another one is grabbing her and pinning her hands behind her back.

and after that, well…

it’s not exactly a pretty sight.

cheryl doesn’t see the strikes coming, only feels them when they make contact…a strong kick to her stomach that has her falling to her knees before fingers are gripping her hair and forcing her back up as she struggles to breathe…a punch to the face that has her cheek aching and her head pounding, blood dripping from her mouth, her head, fuck, who knows anymore-

she’s seeing stars and birds flying again, and it’s not like she hasn’t taken worse beatings than this, because she most certainly has, but take enough of them and one punch feels like a hundred of them.

god, she’s tired…she’s so damn tired of being beaten up and thrown around and used and abused and hurt…

“you die, the blossom dynasty finally ends!” she faintly hears one of the guys say, and it dawns on her slowly, through her beaten up, addled mind, that all three men are pounding on her despite seeing her with jellybean when they were following her…

“you’re n-not…after th-the k-kid…” cheryl manages to rasp out, spitting out blood and drawing in harsh and ragged breaths for air that ache terribly, she probably has a broken rib or two…

“kid? what fucking kid? we’re here for _you._ ” one of them confirms, and cheryl closes her eyes and just lets herself succumb to the fact that it’s over, and she’s about to fucking die.

why keep fighting it when it’s so inevitable?

she hears one of the men laugh before he’s cracking his knuckles and-

a gunshot rings out, and cheryl feels hot liquid splatter her face before the guy in front of her is falling down to his knees in front of her, clutching his bloody throat with wide bugged out eyes and mouth spilling more blood. two more gunshots ring out before the other two guys can even turn around, the both of them falling beside the first goon, and cheryl looks up through bleary eyes and blurred vision to see…

a girl on a motorbike at the entrance to the alleyway, face hidden by a helmet, but a grin on her face and pearls around her neck as she shuts her visor over her face and takes off once more, clearly not even remotely bothered by the half beaten girl in the alleyway before her.

…what a bitch. 

“cheryl! are you okay?” cheryl blinks away the tears of pain and sees jellybean’s face slowly come into view, the young girl looking down at her in panic and fear while cheryl groans and clutches her aching ribs in pain.

“f-fine…i’m f-fine…h-help me up!” she cries out, clutching jellybean’s hand and letting the young child pull her up into a seated position.

“were those guys after me?” jellybean asks softly, and cheryl quickly shakes her head.

“n-no…they were after me. and there’s more where they came from…” she murmurs, her mind coming to a quick conclusion despite her heart telling her not to do it…

she can’t live like this…and they won’t stop, not until she’s dead…she’s finally free of her brother, of her mother and father, of her whole fucking family, she doesn’t _want_ to die…

“come on…i gotta make a phone call.” cheryl says hoarsely, pushing herself up slowly with a wince as jellybean helps her up and lets her lean against her, only making cheryl’s guilt worse at what she’s about to do.

_it’s not personal…just business…just survival…_

she holds a hand up to stop jellybean a few feet away from her before she’s reaching into her back pocket with a wince for her phone. she scrolls down to bret’s number with a sigh, blinking back tears of guilt as she does before she’s calling it and holding the phone up to her ear.

she needs to think of herself first…

“cheryl blossom…” bret says as an answer, cheryl’s eyes fluttering closed at the sound of his voice and her heart racing before she lets out a shaky breath. 

“bret…i have the kid…and she has the diamond. you can have her…but i want something in return.” cheryl says firmly despite how hard she’s shaking, glancing behind her to see jellybean scuffing her shoe against the ground as she swings her legs from where she’s sitting on the curb…

“what can i possibly offer you, cheryl blossom?” bret asks with a chuckle, and cheryl clenches her jaw before she leans in closer to her phone and makes her demand.

“i want…this whole town to stop hunting me! you can have whatever the hell you want, you can have this whole fucking town, bret, i don’t care! but everyone stops trying…to _fucking kill me!_ ” cheryl hisses, her tears building and building as she hears bret go silent for a few moments, cheryl’s eyes on jellybean, thoughts racing on what’s gonna happen to this kid if she does this…

“you have my word, sweetheart. no one will touch a hair on your head…you’ll be under _my_ protection.” bret whispers.

and it’s those words…those words about _her_ being under _his_ protection, that make her tears finally spill over, her bottom lip trembling…

she always belongs to someone…because she’s pathetic, unable to handle being on her own…

_you are pathetic, cheryl blossom…_

“…okay. meet me at that abandoned bar on the southside, used to be the serpent hang out. we’ll be there.” 

—

“malachai! little bird!”

toni sighs at the sound of bret’s voice calling them, but she gets up nonetheless and follows malachai towards the man in question as he dances around the stage looking beyond ecstatic and beyond happy.

toni has no idea why, his diamond is still missing-

“yes, boss?” malachai asks, looking to toni sternly as bret chuckles and jumps off the stage, coming to a stop in front of them and reaching out to toni. 

“i have a job for you…the abandoned bar on the southside, the old...'serpent' hangout…go there and fetch my things.” he says to her, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as toni tries her best not to shiver or shrink away from his touch while also trying not to vomit at the idea of going back to that place... 

“your…things?” she asks in confusion, looking to malachai, who shrugs while bret grins and hums softly, swaying on the spot and taking toni’s hands into his own as if…

as if they’re dancing…

“mmm, my diamond…and the blossom girl. they’re both waiting for me there.” bret whispers into her ear, and this time, toni doesn’t even bother suppressing the shudder that rolls down her spine at the sound of cheryl blossom’s name. 

she doesn’t like the way bret calls cheryl ‘his’ like she’s some goddamn piece of property, but she’s here, obeying his orders and doing everything he asks and driving him around like a goddamn slave…dancing with him now, swaying on the spot like a puppet on strings…he doesn’t even call her by her name…

she’s just as much ‘his’ as he thinks cheryl is…

_look at yourself, toni…that man won’t hesitate in killing cheryl and jellybean to get what he wants…is this really the kind of guy you want to work for?_

“sure thing, boss.” malachai says firmly, and bret lets toni go, smiles as toni swallows thickly and blinks back tears as best as she can before she’s nodding towards the entrance with a smile.

“let’s go.” malachai leads the way, and toni trails behind him, panic gripping her as she looks behind her quickly and determines bret has gone back to dancing around the stage before she’s whipping out her phone and quickly sending a text to betty cooper.

**you [19:36]**  
_the whyte wyrm on the southside. blossom girl and the kid are there with the diamond. i’m with bret’s side-kick/assistant. get there before us._

she lets out a shaky breath and makes her way out the club and towards her car, and malachai jumps into the passenger seat as toni does the same in the driver’s seat, her heart pounding the longer betty goes without replying to her message. 

“she’s a riot, that blossom girl…” malachai says with a chuckle a few minutes later, eyes trained on the road while toni makes the twenty minute drive to the southside of riverdale...her old stomping ground.

she remembers going to serpent meetings with her mother at that bar...she remembers running around and pretending to fight the older members, remembers them teaching her how to throw a punch and remembers byrdie patching up her wounds when she'd get into fights because her mother was always too busy looking after everyone else to look after her own daughter...

“why’d they ever shut that place down, anyway?” malachai asks, and toni swallows the lump in her throat and shrugs as she turns the corner.

“they didn't shut it down...it used to be the southside serpents's den. when their leader died, the bar died with her. all the other members were either arrested or fled town.” 

malachai simply hums in response, and toni sees her phone light up on the dashboard, sees the reply from betty on the front screen before she quickly locks the screen to hide it from view. she glances at malachai, seems him eyeing her phone, and she feels her heart clench and prays he didn’t see anything.

betty said she’d meet her there.

she just prays she gets there before toni does. 

—

“kid, i’m sorry!”

jellybean glares up at her, wriggles in the chair she’s taped down too and screams through the tape over her mouth while cheryl looks at her with nothing but guilt, pacing back and forth on the stage of the abandoned bar she frequents whenever she needs a moment alone to herself...no one thinks to look for her here...she should've come here after jason died...

“look, i’ve got the whole damn town hunting me, i don’t _want_ to do this, but…you gotta learn, in this life, it’s hunt or _be_ hunted!” cheryl cries out, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand as jellybean looks at her sadly.

“don’t look at me like that! you’re making it worse!” cheryl whispers, blinking back more tears and shaking her head before she collapses into the couch beside jellybean with a sigh. 

she doesn’t want to do this at all, but there’s no choice here anymore. she needs jellybean to get what she wants, and maybe…maybe bret will kill this kid, rip open her stomach to get the diamond out, and-

“cheryl blossom!” 

the door to the entrance of the bar bursts open, and cheryl spins around to see that fucking cop from the station pointing a gun at her, she’s so sick of people threatening her for fuck’s sake-

“oh, come on!” cheryl growls, glaring at the woman as she steps forward slowly with her gun still raised, forcing her to slowly get up off the couch.

“cheryl, don’t do this! i know you’re scared, i know the whole town is hunting you down, but giving bret weston-wallis that diamond is _not_ the answer! you have no idea what he’ll do if he gets his hand on that diamond!” 

“i don’t _care!_ he can do whatever he wants, i just want everyone to leave me the fuck alone!” cheryl hisses, hiding jellybean from view and causing the cop to sigh before, to her surprise-

she slowly lowers her gun, her feet stepping up onto the small stage as she raises her hands in surrender. 

“look…i can protect you, cheryl. i can keep you safe! you don’t have to do this, giving the kid to bret, she’s…she’s just a kid! a child!” the cop cries out, nodding down at jellybean behind her as cheryl rolls her eyes and waves her hand nonchalantly.

“so? i went through worse at her age, she’ll be fine.” she murmurs, looking behind her at jellybean with hesitation, her mind conflicted and her heart racing, not paying attention to how betty looks at her with tears in her eyes at her words…

“yeah…yeah, you did…and no one was there for you, no one was there to help you, to keep you safe! and cheryl, i’m so sorry, but…do you really want her to suffer the same fate? to go through what you did?” the cop whispers, stepping forward cautiously and slowly with cheryl’s back still facing her. 

cheryl feels her tears fall, sees how jellybean looks up at her pleadingly, imagines the way bret will hurt her, she doesn’t want that…

“i know someone good is in there, cheryl…let her go.” 

soft fingers suddenly slide into her own, causing cheryl to jump before she’s turning to look at the cop in surprise, and the cop is…gentle.

she’s gentle, brushing her fingers up and down cheryl’s forearm and gripping her hand tightly with a warm smile on her face-

a very haunting, less inviting and nice face pops up over the cop’s shoulder, his grin wide and menacing before the cop falls to the floor with a grunt and a gun is pointed right in cheryl’s face. 

“sit down, don’t move.” malachai growls, cheryl’s eyes darting down to the fallen cop to see she’s still breathing, just unconscious, and she lets out a shaky breath before she’s raising her hands in surrender and slowly falling into the couch behind her. 

_fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-_

“malachai! leave her alone!” 

well, the surprises keep on coming.

cheryl sees the girl with the pink hair that saved her the other day, toni…sees her walk behind malachai towards jellybean with nothing but worry in her eyes as she begins trying to remove the tape keeping her stuck to the chair.

“you’re no fun, little bird…” malachai sighs, collapsing onto the couch beside cheryl with the gun pointed right in her face as he brushes her hair back from her face, and cheryl glares at him, because she’s really sick of people touching her when she doesn’t fucking want them to…

“her name is toni.” she hisses, looking to the pink haired girl, who looks up at her with wide eyes that quickly turn apologetic, and cheryl simply gives her the middle finger in response, prompting toni to bite back a smile at the sight of it. 

“oh…so you know each other, huh? seems like you know a lot of people in this town, huh, little bird?” malachai says firmly, looking to toni with a wicked grin as he pokes cheryl’s jaw with the gun in his hand provokingly. 

oh, cheryl is gonna kill him…

“i said leave her alone! and what the hell are you talking about?” toni snarls, ripping off more tape from jellybean as malachai suddenly nudges the cop’s body with the toe of his boot several times, each kick harsher than the next.

“this the cop you texted?” he asks, suddenly moving forward and taking the cop’s wallet out of her back pocket before he’s flipping through it to get her ID out.

“‘officer elizabeth cooper’! thought her name was betty!” he says in surprise, looking to toni with a wide smile as the pink haired girl freezes and looks up at him in panic. 

“how-.”

“saw the text she sent you. you betrayed the boss, little bird.” malachai sing songs, and before cheryl can do anything, he’s jumping up and smacking the butt of the gun right across her temple, the world spinning and her body falling against the couch with the sides of her vision whiting out completely.

—

“get up.”

toni raises her hands, stops trying to remove the tape from around jellybean’s arms and legs with her heart pounding and fear running through her veins.

malachai nudges the gun against her head again, and toni quickly glances at cheryl to see her stirring, but still completely out of it, then down to betty, who is unconscious.

she’s alone.

“i said get up.” 

toni lets out a shaky breath and slowly stands, looks at jellybean with a reassuring smile as the girl whines and struggles against her bonds, and toni slowly turns to face malachai as he looks at her with nothing but rage in his eyes.

“i saw the cop’s little text…you a snitch?” he growls, cocking the gun as toni clenches her jaw and tries not to panic.

she’s so fucked, she thought he didn’t see it, is she fucking stupid-

“malachai…i’m just trying to get the diamond for bret, okay?” toni lies easily, nodding slowly to try and reassure him, and malachai just laughs in her face and pushes the barrel of the gun right against her forehead. 

“all you bitches are the same, not to be trusted!” he hisses, spit flying onto toni’s face as she licks her lips and shakes her head.

“you’re trippin, man. i didn’t do anything-.”

“you’re a fuckin’ liar! and i’ve already told the boss about it! he’s on his way…and he’s gonna take all of you down, and when he does…” malachai suddenly rips jellybean’s beanie off her head and grabs a fistful of her hair, and toni growls and steps forward only for the gun to be pointed right at her face once more, malachai laughing hysterically as he does.

“first you, then the kid…then maybe i’ll have my fun with the blossom girl, take my time with her after all her family has done to this town.” he hisses, grinning wickedly as he lets go of jellybean and-

a gunshot rings out, and toni jumps in shock as she watches malachai scream in pain, clutching his leg as he falls to his knees, and toni’s throwing all caution to the wind as she runs straight for jellybean and knocks her and the chair down to the ground in case any more gun fire occurs, but when toni glances up, she sees a hooded figure behind malachai, who is clutching and scratching at his own neck as his face turns red, spit flying from his mouth as he gasps for air-

toni sees the pearls wrapped around his neck, getting tighter and tighter as the hooded figure behind him suddenly grips his jaw and-

toni just manages to shield jellybean from the view as malachai’s head twists to the side sharply and with a sickening crack before he’s falling to the ground, his body still twitching for a few more beats before it goes completely still. 

toni looks down at him in shock, looks up at the hooded figure as it lowers its hood to reveal a raven haired girl with wide brown eyes and a smirk on her face, her fingers gripping the lapels of her jacket to remove it.

“who the _fuck_ are you!?” toni cries out, but the girl ignores her, looks down at malachai’s body in satisfaction before she closes her eyes and lets out a shaky breath.

“my work here is almost done…just one more…” she whispers. toni stares at her in confusion before she quickly finishes removing the tape off jellybean, the young girl rolling out of the chair and looking up at toni with a whimper.

“hey, you okay?” toni asks softly, cradling her face in her hands and wiping her tears as jellybean nods once. toni gives her a reassuring smile before she jumps up and moves to the couch where cheryl is slowly beginning to stir.

“cheryl? cheryl, hey, look at me!” toni croaks out, brushing her hair back from her face and pulling her up into a seated position. toni frowns at the blood spattered over cheryl’s face and dripping from the cut on her brow, but cheryl somehow still manages to smile as she blinks at toni slowly.

“you…are really pretty, you know that?” she breathes. toni rolls her eyes, but bites back a smile as she helps cheryl stand up slowly. the redhead leans against her for support, and toni sees betty slowly beginning to push herself up off the floor as well, clutching her head with a groan of pain before she takes in the sight around her. 

“what…the fuck…” betty’s eyes move to a half conscious cheryl blossom leaning against toni topaz, to the unknown woman standing over malachai’s dead body, then to jellybean, who-

“oh god, jellybean!” betty rushes over, grips the girl’s arms and looks her over once to make sure she’s okay, and jellybean nods once to confirm she’s okay before betty looks at the woman still standing over malachai’s body, notices the pearls wrapped around her fist…

“jesus…you’re the pearl strangler?” betty says in shock, looking the girl up and down as she looks up at betty with a raised eyebrow.

“is that what they’re calling me? huh…sounds kind of lame, couldn’t you have given me something better?” she says with a sigh, shrugging as she kicks malachai’s body to make sure he’s definitely dead. 

cheryl whines and buries her face into toni’s neck, and the pink haired girl rolls her eyes, but rubs her back consolingly as betty steps forward, still gripping jellybean protectively.

“who are you?” she asks the girl, who looks up at her with a smile before she’s suddenly squaring her shoulders strangely.

“once upon a time…i was known as veronica lodge.” she says in a strange voice that has toni snorting despite herself while cheryl giggles into her ear.

“why is she talking like that?” toni murmurs to cheryl with barely contained laughter as veronica glares at them angrily.

“i…look, it’s…shut up!” she growls at them.

“holy shit…the lost lodge daughter, you’re her.” betty says in shock, and veronica looks at her with a wide grin and a nod.

“yes, thank you! there’s the reaction i’m looking for!”

“how did…where have you been?!” betty exclaims, looking at veronica, who hums softly, eyes distant before they close as she begins to tell her story. 

“mmm…when my whole family was gunned down by the weston-wallis family, one of our employees survived along with me and dragged me away from the massacre…he took me to spain, where my mother’s family was, and my abuelo and uncle took me in…trained me…turned me into a warrior. and i promised to return to riverdale once i was ready to get my revenge for my family.” 

veronica kicks malachai again, looks up at betty with a proud smile and a nod.

“i killed the whole firing squad…and with the weston-wallis family all but extinct except for their son…my work is almost done.” she breathes, glaring down at malachai’s body, and the entire room is silent, everyone taking in veronica’s words before-

“holy shit…that is fucking cool!” cheryl whispers, looking at veronica in awe, and toni, despite agreeing, finds herself waving her hand nonchalantly. 

“yeah, it’s all very fascinating and cool, but malachai told me before you killed him that he told bret i betrayed him and he’s on his way! bret’s got a whole lot of power, which means he’s probably bringing an army with him! we need to get out of here!” toni says urgently, looking to betty, who nods before-

“uh…think it’s too late for that!” they all spin around and look up to see jellybean as climbed the small staircase up to the second level of the bar where she's standing by one of the windows, and toni grips cheryl’s hand and drags her up the stairs and over to the window, all four women watching as bret weston-wallis steps out of his car with a smile on his face and about forty or so men trailing behind him, carrying bats and brass knuckles and they…are so fucked, fuck, fuck, fuck-

“ugh, i’m too tired for this shit…” cheryl grumbles, and toni nudges her with a weak chuckle.

“sorry, sweetheart, looks like there’s no time for resting.” 

“okay, so…i wanna kill that guy and he wants to kill you guys?” veronica asks, looking to betty, jellybean, cheryl and toni, who exchange glances before-

“yeah, pretty much.” they all say at the same time. veronica purses her lips before she nods once.

“alright, well…let’s work together then so we can get out of here in one piece.” she says it so simply, like it’s an easy solution and not four women and a child going up against forty or so odd men with one of them being the most powerful in riverdale. 

“alright kid, you’re gonna need to give me that diamond now.” betty says, holding her hand out, and cheryl suddenly laughs wildly and looks to betty with amusement.

“yeeeeah, you’re gonna be waiting a while.” she mumbles. jellybean scuffs her foot against the floor, and cheryl grips toni’s shoulder and smiles.

“she ate it, so…ya know…gotta wait.” she says simply. toni groans and looks at jellybean, who shrugs as betty scratches at her brow with a heavy sigh.

“alright, fine! so we fight our way out, keep the kid safe!” she says resolutely, nodding as cheryl and toni look at each other hesitantly.

“look, bret was gonna offer me immunity from the assholes in this town that are after me-.”

“she’s a kid, cheryl! come on, i’ll protect you, alright? we all will, i promise, but we can’t let him get his hands on that diamond-.”

“wait, what diamond?” veronica says in confusion, looking to betty, who runs her fingers through her hair and nods at jellybean.

“your family’s diamond? the one with the codes for your family’s offshore accounts? it’s in the kid’s stomach.” she says with a sigh. veronica blinks once in surprise, looks to cheryl and toni before-

“yeah, we keep this kid safe from that dick, and if you guys don’t help, i’ll kill you both.” veronica deadpans. cheryl and toni exchange another glance, and then-

“okay, yeah! sounds good-.”

“i was saying we should from the start, totally by your side!” 

“it’s still five against about fifty!? we can’t fucking win!” jellybean exclaims, shaking her head as they step away from the window with a frantic look in her eyes that has betty gripping her shoulders with a shake of her head.

“maybe not, but we gotta give it a shot, right? i-.”

before betty can get another word out, there’s the sound of gunfire, and the window breaks-

and betty goes down.

toni drags cheryl down to the ground, sees veronica grab jellybean and do the same as betty groans and rolls over, clutching a very clearly bleeding arm while toni looks at her with wide eyes.

“fuck! are you good?!” she cries out, watching as betty blinks back tears before she nods furiously.

“just…just in the arm, i’m g-good!” she manages to croak out, and jellybean scoffs as shots continue to fire above them, hitting wood and causing debris to fly everywhere.

“yeah, you still got shot!” she screams. betty whines and shimmies closer to the four of them, and toni hears a heavy sigh before she feels cheryl begin to sag against her shoulder with a harsh pant for air.

“cheryl?!” toni keeps her body ducked beneath the window while she pushes cheryl against the wall and sees her eyes rolling into the back of her head, her whole body limp and defeated…

“i’m not feeling so hot, pinky…think i took too many shots to the head today.” she mumbles.

“fuck, are you fucking kidding me?!” toni hisses through bared teeth hysterically, brushing cheryl’s hair back from her face in panic and tapping her cheek to bring her back to consciousness as she turns to face veronica with wide eyes.

“so what, it’s just you and me against an army?! i’m good, but i’m not _that_ good!” veronica growls, shaking her head with a scoff as she grips jellybean tighter. 

toni glances around the old bar, sees only broken wood and ratty posters and not a single weapon in sight, she hasn't been back here since she was a child, she can't remember where any of the secret stashes of weapons are...god, they're so screwed...

betty suddenly reaches out and grips her hand, her blood staining toni’s skin as she looks at the cop in surprise.

“you know what you gotta do, r-right?” betty whispers, sweat beginning to drip from her brow as more blood pools her shirt and begins to drip to the floor, she’s losing way too much blood…

toni looks at her in hesitation, knows what she’s saying, but there’s no fucking way she can, no way…

“i can’t…i haven’t in years-.”

“you have to! or we’re d-dead!” betty cries through bared teeth, groaning and clutching her arm once more to try and stop the flow of blood as toni licks her lips and swallows the dryness in her throat.

“betty…”

she can’t do this, she _can’t…_

“she’d want you to do it…you know she would!” betty whispers, nodding at her encouragingly with a smile as veronica and jellybean look at toni in confusion. 

“i…i can’t-.” 

“look, they haven’t stopped firing, so whatever you’re gonna do, do it quick!” veronica growls, gripping toni’s arm as gunfire continues to spray above them, it’s like they have unlimited fucking bullets, this…

she has to do this…

“toni…”

the pink haired girl looks down at the cop, watches as she nods resolutely once more before she looks at the others and lets out a shaky breath before-

“cover your ears, all of you!” she yells, and she watches as betty, veronica, jellybean and even cheryl manage to put their hands over her ears before she’s running towards the staircase as quickly as she can, pounding down them with her hands over her head and escaping the gunfire before she’s running down the stairs and out of the main double doors of the bar-

before any of the men can redirect their gunfire, toni takes a deep breath in-

and screams. 

she feels the sonic waves intensify, feels them escape her throat and push out into the open air before they’re causing a disruption to gravity and slamming into every single person in her path, guns flying, _men_ flying from the force of her scream as she refuses to stop until the last ounce of air has left her lungs. 

she sees bret clutching his ears, sees blood pooling down his neck from them as he screams back in agony, not nearly a quarter as destructive as toni’s scream, and her head begins to spin from the lack of oxygen before she falls to her knees.

she finally allows her throat to relax, allows herself to suck in a harsh, ragged breath of air as she looks up to see every single man either rendered unconscious or clutching their ears and rolling around on the ground in agony, bret being one of them. 

she smiles despite the throbbing in her head, and she feels gentle hands grip her shoulders before veronica lodge’s face swims into her view, her eyes filled with concern before she’s grinning widely.

“don’t worry, i’ll finish the job. bret weston-wallis is _mine._ ” she breathes, and toni, too far gone to argue, gives her a thumbs up, clutches her aching head with a groan as veronica stands and begins to make her way towards bret slowly, clutching her pearls in her hands as she does before toni feels herself begin to succumb to darkness until it takes her under.

—

so…here she is.

in some restaurant in riverdale, sipping mimosas at four in the morning with the craziest girl in town, the cop who was way too good at her job and suffered the price for it, a girl who disappeared years ago only to come back as a goddamn assassin and some kid she’d never met before with a habit for pick pocketing…

and somehow…she’s happy. 

the asshole she works for is dead, so is his asshole side kick, and sure, she’s out of a job, but right now…she’s happy.

she used her powers, she kicked ass and she’s fucking _happy._

“the way you screamed! whoa, _everyone_ went flying, it was fucking awesome!” jellybean exclaims, looking at toni with a grin as the pink haired girl rolls her eyes and shrugs.

“yeah, yeah, it’s a parlor trick, don’t get used to it.” she grumbles, taking a sip of her mimosa as betty smiles at her fondly.

“it shouldn’t be just a parlor trick. you could use that ability for _good_ , toni.”

“don’t you start again with your ‘be a good guy’ rant, please, i’m tired!” cheryl whines, giving betty the middle finger as the cop shakes her head with a scoff of disbelief and simply cuts into her eggs as best as she can with one arm, the other stuck in a makeshift sling made by veronica.

who pulls a list out of her jacket pocket and crosses off bret’s name with a flourish, grinning down at it and letting out a happy sigh before she looks up at the others excitedly.

“that was fun, you know…most fun i’ve had in a while!” she exclaims, and cheryl giggles as she nudges toni with a wicked smile.

“or in your whole life, considering you spent most of it learning how to kill! such a badass…” she says in awe, causing veronica to grin before toni rolls her eyes and jumps up with her empty mimosa in hand.

“another round! kid, you need to go and shit that diamond out like, right now!” she demands, pointing at jellybean and watching as she sighs before she jumps up and nods.

“alright, alright…i think i got it in me…”

all four women cheer as jellybean walks into the bathroom of the restaurant, clutching her stomach as she does while toni laughs and orders more mimosas.

“hey…”

toni spins around when she feels someone poke her side, and cheryl blossom is smiling widely at her, still looking a little dazed, but mostly happy as she leans in closer to the pink haired girl.

“didn’t know you had that in you.” she murmurs, and toni licks her lips, eyes flicking down to cheryl’s ruby red smudged ones as she smiles.

“not a lot of people do.” she whispers back, grinning as cheryl giggles and leans in even a little closer with a soft hum.

“mmm…you’re a special one, toni topaz.” she says softly, and toni pulls back, looks at her in surprise and finds herself laughing despite herself.

“…how do you know my last name?” she asks curiously, and cheryl’s grin only widens before she’s suddenly gripping toni’s chin in one hand-

and she’s kissing her.

toni blinks in surprise before she closes her eyes and allows herself to enjoy the kiss, melting into it and brushing her tongue against cheryl’s with a moan as she deepens it and grips cheryl’s waist to pull her in closer. 

cheryl’s fingers tangle in her hair, clearly getting lost in the kiss herself as toni scratches as the baby hair’s at the back of her neck affectionately, because, well…

wow.

fucking _wow_ , she’s never quite had a kiss like this before…

before she can cherish a second more of it, cheryl suddenly pulls away with a shaky exhale, her breath washing over toni’s face as she smiles sadly and brushes her thumb over toni’s bottom lip.

“i’m gonna miss you, pinky.” she whispers. toni raises an eyebrow and looks at her in even more confusion, not quite understanding what she’s saying, and honestly still dazed by one of the most amazing kisses she’s ever had in her life-

“miss me?” she says in a low voice, watching as cheryl steps back and keeps their fingers entangled for a second longer before she’s reaching into her pocket-

and pulling out a set of keys. keys that look like the belong to veronica lodge and that bike of hers…

“learned a thing or two from the kid. gotta go!” she says quickly with a wicked grin, and before toni can grab her and tell her to stop, she’s running out of the restaurant, toni frozen in shock for a few seconds before the roar of a motorbike pulls her focus back.

“wait, cheryl!” she runs out of the restaurant after the redhead, barely makes it out the door before she sees a flash of red hair and hears a loud whoop of laughter as cheryl takes off down the road on veronica’s bike.

“hey! that’s my bike!” veronica screams beside toni’s ear as she makes it outside, watching cheryl go in anger, and toni’s shoulders slump in defeat as cheryl rounds the corner…

and disappears.

“trust me, she needs it more than you do. riverdale isn’t safe for her anymore.” toni croaks out, sighing as betty finally catches up to them with a look of exasperation.

“it’s not safe for any of us! i told her we could protect her!” she cries out in disbelief, shaking her head and adjusting her sling with a wince, and toni runs her fingers through her hair and looks to her sadly.

“just…let her go. something tells me we haven’t seen the last of her, anyway…” she says softly, looking out to the spot where cheryl disappeared and hoping she’s right as veronica leans against the door and lets out a heavy sigh and shrugs. 

“so…what now then?” she grumbles. toni squares her shoulders and looks to the two ladies before her, frowning before she comes to a quick conclusion. 

“we get the diamond off the kid.” she says firmly. betty nods in agreement, and veronica waves her hand to egg her on.

“and then?” she asks. 

and toni looks to betty with a smile, watches as the ex-cop grins and begins to nod slowly.

“we start cleaning up this fucking town…from the inside out.” she says determinedly, grinning as toni holds a fist out for her to bump, which she does. 

“like…some badass super heroine team?” veronica says with a scoff, and toni finds herself laughing as betty shrugs and nods with a laugh of her own.

“yeah…like some badass super heroine team!” she says, and veronica rolls her eyes before she purses her lips, thinks about it, and-

“well, i killed the people i wanted to kill, and i just lost my bike, so…i guess i’m in, too.” she says with a shrug.

“yeah! that’s the spirit!” toni says with a grin, bumping her fist against veronica’s as the raven haired heiress shakes her head with a chuckle and makes her way back into the restaurant. toni hesitates, looks back out onto the road as if she’s expecting cheryl to turn back around, but she knows she won’t.

cheryl’s gone.

“you think she’ll be okay on her own?” betty asks softly, and toni lets out a shaky breath and simply shrugs because, well…

“i think she’s gonna be on her own for the first time ever, and i think she might struggle, but…i also watched her take down two fully grown men, so…i think she’ll be just fine. and if she’s not…” toni smiles, fingers brushing over her lips that are still tingling from that kiss as she looks to betty with a nod.

“don’t worry. she knows she can come back to us if she’s not.” she says firmly.

and betty smiles before she chews on her bottom lip and shrugs.

“…if veronica doesn’t kill her for stealing her bike.”

“yeah, don’t like her chances on that one.”


End file.
